Hello Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey and Romania, and welcome to the blog...and a special welcome to Indonesia, whom I'm sure are monitoring crucial critical political media outlets like this here blog...(oh boy, hear we go-Ed)...I'm sure that they're fascinated with the grubby dealings of our various local public officials...which segues nicely into another post about Mt Gambier City Council.
But seriously, this business of Australia 'tapping' Indonesian President Yudhoyono's private phone strikes me as a cross between denial and Sparta...denial in that I assume all my electronic and/or telephonic communicationings can and therefore probably will be monitored...(yeah, I'll give you that one, but then there's also this here blog which doesn't need to be 'monitored'-Ed)...true, but still, thinking that it wouldn't be happening to heads of government by other governments is a little trite...and Sparta because in that context the crime surely is not committing the crime, but getting caught...
(I assume you're referring to the Ancient Greek City-State of Sparta, where the 'warrior attitude' was instilled in the youths by encouraging them to commit crimes, usually violent, against lower castes, eg, slaves, and if caught the punishment was for getting caught not committing the crime?-Ed)...I see we've done the same high school history lessons, but yes I believe that's the case...perhaps I'm the naive one, but surely these people know that they're being monitored where possible, and therefore it's the mutual embarrassment caused by being caught...
The issue is one of imbalance as well though, because it's possible that Australia has access to technologies that Indonesia does not...and to the other extreme, why is this known at all?...because an internal leak...(a Leaky Snowden-Ed)...exposed various transcripts, etc, and unless I missed it, I've not heard of Chinese government stuff being 'exposed', or the Indonesian government...(well, actually, given that the 'Snowden documents' include the surveillance stuff covering Indonesia, there's some things 'exposed' I'm sure-Ed)...good point...but I digress...
As previously posted, at Council's meeting last Tuesday 19th November there was not one word about the Old Hospital demolition, the Old Rail Lands clearance, and one brief sentence about the Gaol Expansion, Councillor Richardson mentioning 'the families of inmates', etc but all this will all have to wait until tomorrow, because 1) I want to do these emails, and 2) I've just seen that the Rann /Weatherill state government is spending an absolute fortune to get The Rolling Stones to Adelaide, I believe for the opening of the 'New Adelaide Oval.
Nothings too good for Adelaide as far as Adelaide's concerned, and absolutely typical that the Old Queen would choose an old band from overseas rather than any of the many suitable Australian acts...I've seen conflicting reports stating that this concert will cost anything from $500,000 to $1million, and then they'll also be charging like wounded bulls for tickets...that cash should be being spent, if at all, on a free day long festival with Australian bands...to be rolled out across 6-7 regional centres.
But to see Mick Jagger on the news saying that "it's an honour" to be playing in Adelaide, that's just plain rude...if it's such a bloody "honour", then why wasn't Adelaide on their original itinerary, and why pay them to play?...I like some Rolling Stones stuff, but this is bollocks...and one small letter in The Advertiser criticising the Forestry Sale re paying for the Oval...spending like drunken sailors...which leads to...
With the onset of 'Schoolies season' there has been a lot of discussion about the Australian obsession with Alcohol, and particularly the 'binge drinking to get drunk' behaviours of many of our younger people (I'm now 47 so anyone under about 25 is 'youth' to me)... apparently half of all police/emergency services call outs and 1 in 8 deaths of young people are alcohol related...even if remotely accurate, these are extraordinary figures...
So I was stunned to see the new Channel 10 morning panel show, which I swear I've seen doing stories about 'Schoolies' and/or alcohol problems just in the last week, eg, 60% of police callouts involve Alcohol...and this morning they had a resident bartender who'd won some prize, and he was mixing them cocktails at 10.15hrs...and I watched it for a few minutes and they repeatedly said "cocktails", in contrast to 'mocktails', which in context would be reasonably appropriate...surely someone who's just won an award would know 6 or 7 'mocktails'.
Perhaps I'm just being petty, but it really struck me that they would be presenting two such polar opposites...which segues rather nicely into the Old Hospital Demolition...and whilst I don't retract anything I have said on this post thus far, here's what happened today...
It was reported early this morning on ABC Local Radio that the demolition was proceeding this morning, and it was too early to call the Environment Protection Authority, so I went up to have a look...and they were starting up the large excavator, so I ended up speaking to several senior McMahons' personnel...I stated to them that I would be doing this blog but that I wouldn't identify them specifically, but I have a business card and they're relatively public figures anyway...
It was a bit fractious to begin with but I pretty much opened with 'the EPA says you don't have the certificates you need, and what about the asbestos?'...(that is a tad aggressive-Ed)...yes, but I was absolutely polite about it and even apologised for coming on a bit strong and the young woman present said that I not been "at all aggressive" and waved away my apology...(you do try, don't you you old hippy?-Ed)...no, it comes naturally actually...
Bottom Line: McMahons were absolute in their statements that all Asbestos issues had been appropriately dealt with and that that included the remaining window frames where a "bitumenised' rather than Asbestos mastic/waterproofing had apparently been used...and that they had all their current certificates following independent monitoring and inspections, and offered me various documents to look at, and for nearly 30 minutes were happy to discuss it with me...
I stated that I had lodged the complaint with the EPA because of the conflicting media reports about Asbestos issues, eg, only last week Councillor Des Mutton casually dropped in a mention of 'Asbestos in mastic around some windows', and the repeated statements that the Main building demolition was underway this week. McMahons stated that they were not responsible for those media statements.
As per previous post, when I saw workers removing 'Asbestos contaminated' materials days after it was reported in The Border Watch that "today" it' a comin' down pa'...I acted to do what I could without going anywhere near the site...as far as I was aware the only option was the EPA...and so I did that, and it was only as an absolute last resort that I approached McMahons this morning.
For all I know they were expecting me...(oo, I was gonna say that-Ed)...and had a bunch of paperwork ready, but they did seem quite genuine and, as I identified to them, they didn't have to talk to me at all...(oh, that was because they knew that if they refused to talk to you, you would probably go ballistic about it all over this here blog-Ed)...well I doubt it...loathe as I am to admit it, they didn't seem to know who I was...(didn't they know who you are?-Ed)...hilarious...
I rang the EPA again this morning and in their return message (I missed the call) reversed their advice of yesterday, now McMahons did have the certificates they needed...and on both occasions the EPA stated that their liaison person with Council was Darryl Morgan...I don't know what else to say...late yesterday the EPA stated no certificates, this morning McMahons said they have all the requisite certificates, and by lunchtime today the EPA reverses their advice of yesterday.
Anyway, the building is coming down and I'm going to pull stumps on this post, and I haven't done those emails again, so,
Tomorrow: The Oft Advertised Emails
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...thankyou for your patronage...laters...
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